We need government and that means we need public employees. We can and will fight like heck about which services and programs we could do without. We reckon there are quite a few. But every time we pass a law or change a program or build something or spend money, we are creating work that public employees are expected to do.

They deserve fair pay and benefits. The public has a right to know how its money is being spent. That means that the salaries of public employees are and must remain public. So too must be all contracts to private consultants and vendors. Every dollar must be accounted for and must be accessible for inspection by whoever wants the information — no questions asked.

In a nutshell, here’s why: Unlike in the private marketplace, governments have the power to send the police to come and get your taxes, whether or not you agree with what they’re spent on. You don’t pay, you lose your freedom. This coercive power, then, must be accompanied by a powerful presumption of openness: public money, public information.

This newspaper has stirred up a storm this week by taking salary information for state and local employees — information that was already public, if you knew where to look — and compiling it in a searchable database. Many readers are upset, either because they feel that information should be private or because they feel it should not be “published” in such an accessible way. Others used it as an opportunity to rail against big government or hammer on negative stereotypes about public employees.

We believe there has never been a greater need for transparent public government. And we believe this type of database is exactly the kind of format that citizens, journalists, advocates, activists, citizen-journalists, political hacks and all other manner of public-spirited types need.

It should not take a paid journalist or investigator several hours and telephone calls to find out how tax dollars are being spent. That information should be easily accessible. “Public” information shouldn’t repose in a musty basement file cabinet. It should be organized and presented so that the “public” can find it.

Openness oxygenates our democracy. Read the back-and-forth sparring on our Web site this week and you’ll get a sense of what we mean.

The project stirred a number of important questions about government compensation and related issues. As reporters Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and MaryJo Webster reported on Sunday, overall compensation for state employees is a mixed picture. At the state government level, the jobs are stable and secure and generally provide good benefits. Pay is good but not excessive. Lower-skilled government workers generally make more than their private-sector counterparts. Highly skilled and trained workers could probably do better in private jobs.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor came to this conclusion in a 2000 study of the state workforce — the last such survey available. At that time, the Legislative Auditor found, guards, janitors and repair workers averaged nearly one-third more than comparable private sector jobs, and clerical workers were paid 10 percent to 20 percent more. Upper-level managerial and professional positions are limited by salary caps and tend to pay less than in the private sector.

Many complaints about public employees have to do with the limits of government. Public employees as a group often bear the brunt of this unresolved debate. But think about it — does it make sense for those who oppose public transit funding to get angry at bus drivers?

Many, probably most, of our public employees work hard and well and, as in the private sector, often are under-appreciated. At the same time,citizens are turned off when they encounter problems getting simple questions answered or having phones picked up in a timely manner. Who among us has not felt that some of our school, our courthouse or our city officials needed a shot of adrenaline, or even of private-sector competition, to get them to treat citizens as customers?

There are important decisions to make. Openness in all areas of government will help us make them. The salary database is a step in that direction. We need more such efforts so that public-by-law information can become public-in-fact.

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